Support and Snacks
by HalfASlug
Summary: Set during S2E5. Alec settles into his role as 'Uncle Alec' as best he can.


_A/N: I don't own Broadchurch or any other fictional seaside towns._

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"Wait - how did I end up pushing the buggy?"

They had been walking for a good half an hour before Hardy's realisation. Just to emphasis how much of shock this was to him, he had stopped walking along the clifftop.

Ellie, who was now a step ahead of her him, briefly closed her eyes and tried to keep her face neutral. She opened them again and shot Fred a quick wink before facing Hardy.

"What?"

"The buggy," Hardy repeated, glaring at it like Fred's first words might be an explanation to his current predicament. "It's yours. Why am I pushing it?"

"I dunno. You're a gentlemen?" She couldn't have stopped the smile forcing its way onto her expression, even without Hardy's incredulous look. "I was pushing him out of your house, but you took over when I stopped to check I had my phone and you sort of carried on. Didn't think to stop you."

Hardy's eyebrows disappeared under his fringe. "You knew about this?"

"Knew the man stood next me for past thirty minutes was pushing my youngest around? Yeah, somehow I managed to notice that. God, you really are the worst cop in Britain."

Ah. The eyebrows were back, but now firmly in the scowling position. "One bloody paper, Miller."

"I'll take him back if he's such a hardship," she grumbled, moving to stand behind the buggy, only to see his grip had tightened over the cushioned plastic.

"Nah, I've got him," Hardy sniffed. He began pushing again but Ellie gripped his coat, holding him back. "What?"

For a man whose entire emotional spectrum ranged from miffed to pissed off, he was certainly taking her on a roller coaster now.

"You were just complaining about pushing the buggy!"

"No, I just didn't remember making the decision to push the buggy!"

"Right. Well."

For a moment, they stood under the cloudy sky, unexpectedly reaching a stalemate in an argument they weren't really having, and wondered where to go from there. Much like their relationship as whole, these things that began as a necessity slowly became the norm and it was only when they stopped at looked behind them that realised how fair they had travelled.

With a slight cough, Hardy continued walking, his dark eyes locked on the baby that was happily laughing at the boats floating aimlessly in the water below them. Just ahead of them on the path was a large rock. Before Ellie could warn him about it, he had already lifted the front wheels over it, before doing the same with the back, without breaking stride.

"Guess it's been a while since you did anything like this?" Ellie tried with a smile.

"Aye."

It had been optimistic to hope for anything else. Still, he'd let her in on Sandbrook, let her into his home. It wasn't a friendship like any other she'd ever had, but Hardy wasn't like any other human she'd ever met. By his personal standards, she was probably his best friend. In fact, by many a cruel twist of fate, he was probably hers in return.

"Let me know if you get tired or anything," she said as they started up a small hill. "Know what you're like. Don't want you having a heart attack and rolling my son down a cliff."

Though she wasn't looking at him she still caught him side-eyeing her. "I can walk and push a wee baby at the same time."

"Just saying."

"Miller, I don't mind." He leaned over the top of the buggy, pushing the cover down in order to see Fred. "He's a good boy."

Hearing the rustling above him, Fred tipped his head back to see Hardy's face and his chubby face broke into a wide smile. Hardy looked baffled by the response and returned his attention to the path.

"Wow, first his name, now his gender... Next you'll be knowing his birthday," Ellie smirked. "Even better - you could take him to that fair!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Still grinning, Ellie rooted around in her coat pocket and found a packet of crisps. She offered one to Hardy, who turned it down, before taking one for herself. "Well, thank you for taking him off my hands for a bit. Forgot how nice it was to just walk around here without the pressures of driving."

Months ago she would have thought Hardy's lack of reaction meant he had stopped listening or was annoyed with her. Now she knew better. The fact he hadn't growled something at her, or scowled or done that weird thing with his jaw meant he at least found her slightly amusing.

"You do too much," he grunted after a while. "This morning you had police files in one hand, baby in the other and it's exhausting watching you, Miller."

Chewing another crisp, Ellie decided not to point out that it was his police files that she'd been holding and that staying up all night with a baby and an extensive murder case was probably more exhausting. "That's me. Supermum." Feeling her smile wobble, Ellie pushed away the memories of Tom giving her a Mother's Day card with that on or Joe calling her it when-

_No._

"It's more tiring watching you scowl all the time. You must have amazing forehead muscles."

"You're avoiding the point, Miller."

"Learnt from the best."

Fred squealed between them and Ellie gazed intently at the crisp packet, hoping now wasn't the time that Hardy finally decided to be interested in other people's emotions outside of police work.

"Sure you don't want a crisp?" she asked in the hopes of deflecting any interrogation.

"No."

"Oh, go on. I'll only eat them all and get fat."

Under the scruff, Ellie saw a muscle in his cheek twitch. Irritating him was too easy to be considered a sport, but nowadays there was a comfortable familiarity to it. It was the closest either of them got to affection, really, and that thought didn't make her as achingly sad as it used to.

"If I get fat, I won't fit behind the wheel and you'd have to start getting taxis," she continued around a mouthful. "Or just stay in Broadchurch forever. And then-"

"Fine," Hardy snapped, stopping so suddenly a toy fell out of the bottom on the buggy. "I'll have a bloody crisp." He pinched one out of the bag and shoved it in his mouth, making a big show of chewing it. "Happy?" he asked and carried on up the path without waiting for an answer.

Smiling at the sight of her ex-boss storming off as her son cackled at the sudden spurt of speed, Ellie bent down to pick up the now-dusty toy. "Sort of," she whispered as she made to catch up with them.

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_Thanks for reading!_


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